The communications service known as calling name delivery or identification is popular with customers. Calling name delivery also may be referred to as calling name presentation (CNAP). A calling name delivery service provides identification of the calling party (e.g., personal name, company name, “restricted”, “unavailable”, etc.) and/or other information to the called party. In particular, a customer who subscribes to a calling name delivery service typically has a telecommunications unit or device that allows for the real-time display of a calling party name and/or other information associated with a received call. A calling name delivery service also may be referred to as an information delivery service, especially when the delivery service delivers information in addition to or other than a calling name.
The calling name delivery service generally provides calling name (and/or other information) for calls between wireline (also referred to as a landline) units. For example, assume Scott and Laura each have a wireline unit (such as a telephone) in their respective homes. Scott uses his home telephone to call Laura at home. Laura subscribes to a calling name delivery service, and thus, Scott's name appears on the display of Laura's home telephone when he calls Laura.
Unfortunately, the above-described process of calling name delivery is not applicable to a call from a wireless unit such as a cell phone or other mobile phone to a wireline unit. For example, assume Scott uses his car phone to call Laura at home. As noted, Laura subscribes to the calling name delivery service. But the communications system is unable to delivery Scott's name or other information associated with the received call to Laura's home telephone.
The principal reason the communications system is unable to delivery Scott's name when he is using his car phone is that there is no calling name database or other source available to provide Scott's name associated with his cell phone for display on Laura's home telephone. In contrast, in the wireline example, a calling name database typically stores information associated with each calling line served in a region. But a wireless unit is not associated with a calling line in the physical sense that a wireline unit is associated with a calling line. Thus, information related to a wireless unit is not typically stored in a calling name database that includes information related to calling lines served in a general region. Scott's call from his car phone results in a display on Laura's home telephone that may read: “Information unavailable” or “out of area”.
A subscriber to a calling name delivery service generally is not pleased to repeatedly receive the “information unavailable” or “out of area” notice on his or her display in association with a call. The subscriber may believe that he or she is not getting his or her money's worth in terms of the fees he or she pays for the calling name delivery service. Further, a subscriber to a calling name delivery service becomes accustomed to viewing the display of calling party information and feels frustrated when such information is not forthcoming.
Unfortunately, previous attempts to incorporate wireless units in a calling name delivery service have not proved entirely successful. As noted above, calling name information associated with a wireless unit is not generally incorporated in a calling name database used to find name or other information associated with a wireline unit. A calling name database includes entries that may be indexed based on the calling line on which a call originates. A wireless unit is not associated with a calling line. Thus, the characteristics of a wireless unit do not fit the entry format in a typical calling line database serving wireline units.
A separate database for wireless units has been suggested. For example, the wireless database may be set up to include entries so as to provide calling name and/or other information associated with a wireless unit whose owner is based within a “home” region. But, unlike a wireline unit, a wireless unit is mobile and may operate outside its home region in a visited region. A wireless unit operating in a visited region is said to be “roaming”. If the user of the wireless unit makes a call while roaming, the calling name delivery service may be unable to find any information about the roaming unit. The service again displays the “information unavailable” or “out of area” notice to the subscriber.
Moreover, given the nature of wireless units, the distribution and use of wireless units is generally more dynamic than that of wireline units. A customer may have the same wireline number (also referred to as a directory number or a telephone number) for years. But the same customer or household may have more than one wireless unit. A customer may lose or have his or her wireless unit stolen. A customer may buy new wireless units and discard the old ones as technology improves. A customer may switch relatively frequently upon contract expiration or for other reasons among wireless service providers and each time garner a new or different wireless unit.
This dynamic distribution and use of wireless units makes it difficult to keep track of wireless units. For example, assume a wireless database is set up to include entries so as to provide calling name and/or other information associated with a wireless unit. Also assume the problems associated with a roaming unit in the delivery of calling name service are solved or at least minimized. Entries in the wireless database need to be routinely and repeatedly updated so as to provide correct information in the calling name delivery service. With the dynamic distribution and use of wireless units, keeping up with the many changes to the entries in a wireless database is not an insignificant task. This task is complicated by the need to keep the calling name and/or other information regarding a wireless unit in the wireless calling name database in synchronicity with the information regarding the wireless unit in a home location register (HLR) of a mobile switching center (MSC) or other wireless network element. This synchronicity may be difficult to achieve and result in discrepancies between the wireless calling name database and the HLR.
Another previous attempt to incorporate wireless units in a calling name delivery service is described in the patent to Serbetcioglu et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,111, entitled “Caller Name and Identification Communication System with Caller Screening Option.” Serbetcioglu et al. adds a feature server to an existing network. The network feature server intercepts an incoming call for a called subscriber and prompts the caller to either speak his or her name, or speak or punch a pin number. The called subscriber then is played the caller's spoken name or is provided with information that is associated with the pin number entered by the caller.
There are drawbacks to the use of Serbetcioglu et al. 's feature server. A drawback is that Serbetcioglu et al. requires that another element (the feature server) be added to the telecommunications network. In addition, in Serbetcioglu et al., calls must be routed for interception by the feature server. Thus, Serbetcioglu et al. requires re-routing of current patterns. Yet another drawback is that Serbetcioglu et al. generally does not provide information for all callers for display such as generally provided by calling name delivery services. Only those callers who have been previously entered by the called subscriber into the feature server may have their names displayed. Other “unknown” callers are requested to speak their names, and the caller's spoken name is delivered to the called subscriber. The delivery of a spoken name generally requires the called subscriber to listen on his or her handset or otherwise get more involved with the call than by simply glancing at the display unit for the name of the calling party.
Accordingly, there is a need for methods and systems that provide a calling party name and/or other information corresponding to a wireless unit where the wireless unit used to make a call to the wireline unit of a subscriber having a calling name delivery service.